Once Twice Three Times a Lady oo ONE SHOT
by Dreamer1985
Summary: After a scare of thinking he was going to lose Jennifer Ben's mind turns to the memories of wife that has been regulated to the shadows. One that finally gets put in her rightful spot -thanks to Jennifer's aid.


**Fan Fiction**

**Bonanza**

**Once Twice Three Times A Lady**

**I do not own any the copyrights to Bonanza**

"_Jennifer!" Ben had screamed -along with Hoss, Little Joe and their wives - as they watched Jennifer fly from her horse. _

_'I can't lose her this way!' Ben hollered in his head as he ran to the woman who had born him his two youngest children. 'I already lost Marie from a fall!' Praise be, when he'd turned her over she was breathing._

"_She'll live, but Ben… that third child she was wanting?" Dr. Martin didn't have to say anymore._

"_We've got plenty around here. I don't need another one." Ben felt himself letting go of a huge breath of air he'd been holding._

Ben now sat in the reddish brown chair near the fireplace finding himself remembering on Elizabeth, Inger and Marie, and saying a huge prayer of thanksgiving Jennifer had survived the fall, but the gal his mind got stuck on was one he'd had no children by …. Rosanna.

"_I'm so tired…" Rosanna had leaned her head against his chest as he'd sat in the same chair he was reliving the memory. "..I just want to fly away." _

"_Fly away, it's okay." Ben whispered knowing how much pain she was in. _

"_Thank-you…" Rosanne whispered, "…for giving me so many gifts."_

Gifts. They hadn't been material things she'd meant. And he knew it. The biggest one she'd repeated over and over - the sicker she became - was that of marrying her.

"_I always wanted to be married, but now…" Rosanna sighed as they'd ridden in his carriage around the Ponderosa. "…that will not ever be."_

"_And why not?" Ben asked with a raised eyebrow._

"_Ben, I'm dying. The doctor even said so. No sane man wants that. I wouldn't be around long enough to even carry one child." Rosanna's head had turned only to find Ben's hand turning hers back around. _

"_Marry me then. Plenty men who don't like me have labeled me crazy." Ben had chuckled when Rosanna had put on a scowl and told him he wasn't nuts._

"_Marry me anyway." Ben had persisted -and won._

Looking around the room lit only by the fireplace Ben found himself sighing - yet again. Maybe, his marriage to Rosanna had been the precursor to Hoss' willingness to marry Emily even though the gal had been at death's doorstep.

"_But Pa, she's sick. I mean real sick!" Hoss and vocalized what was in Little Joe's eyes -and what would come later in a letter from Adam._

"_I know, but she saved my life twice and by aiding me the first time saved my sons' lives ..remember? Not to mention her testimony cinched in Jake's fate." Ben's eyes had glazed hard. "And I love her."_

Ben adjusted himself in his chair. He hadn't lied to Hoss the night the night they'd discussed the Cartwright Curse - though Jennifer had put a whole different light on it calling it the Cartwright blessing.

"_A Cartwright woman isn't dumb. We know death could come early -and seems to come high in this family - but we still want that blessing as long as we can get it. Though I am sorry it seems to be a curse to you." Jennifer's voice was soft and gentle._

Was that why Rosanna had said yes? Sure, he'd pushed for them to marry, but not _that_ persistently. Had she seen it as a blessing? Even though she had been dying. "Oh, Rosanna." Two words spoken softly but heard nonetheless by a woman standing at the top of the stairs. Thankfully, she was not a jealous one.

"Ben." Jennifer spoke softly as she slowly came downstairs.

"You should be in bed." Ben practically jumped to his feet.

"I have lain in there long enough -even the doctor said this evening I could start getting up and around." Sitting down Jennifer spoke with a tenderness only she could hold. "Missing Rosanna?"

"Oh, Jennifer, I didn't mean…" Ben felt guilty almost as if he'd insulted his fifth wife.

"It's okay, Ben. I knew when I married you you're status on marriages. Besides, from what I heard from Hoss and Little Joe she was quite the lady." Jennifer urged him to get anything out about her he'd held inside.

"She was once, twice, no three times a lady." Ben sighed, "I knew she was dying, she'd not ever hid it from me. I wanted to give her anything I had." Looking at Jennifer he told her about the hunt and watched her visibly shutter.

"You'd have been dead without her aid." Jennifer found herself extremely grateful for his fourth wife -one she'd only found out about recently. "Why didn't you ever talk about her? Why didn't your sons every say anything? How come the town didn't say anything?" She confessed it wasn't his being married fourth time that ever bothered her, but… "Ben, you've never been the type to hide things, so, why put Rosanna in a box?"

"I don't know. I guess my family got so used to everyone asking about my other wives that we simply got in the habit of keeping Rosanna in the shadows. And as far as the towns people…well…without us having any children they just seemed to forget about her." He then admitted it was the main factor in him walking the floor so much on the night he'd debated on whether, or not, to ask Jennifer to marry him.

"Do you have a picture of her?" Jennifer asked and Ben confessed there was one in the attic.

"It's in a silver frame with flowers engraved on the side. I don't know why we never put it down here, but after she died it just seemed to find its way to the attic." The two went upstairs - with Jennifer in the lead.

"Well, seems to me it's time to get her out of the shadows." Jennifer took the picture of Rosanna and insisted Ben put it next to his other wives. When he set it after Jennifer's he was amazed when she switched and put it between her and Marie.

"There now the fine lady isn't hidden and is in her rightful spot." Jennifer grinned.

"You're something else. I think Rosanna would have liked you." Ben grinned when Jennifer said she didn't think it -she knew it.

Ben and Jennifer than sat up for a couple of hours talking about Rosanna's contagious life and smile. Her humor -she'd stuck horse hairs in Hoss' and Shay's bed on their wedding night, and mostly her loyalty to the Cartwrights; especially when it came to Jake's trial.

"Her testimony sealed his fate and she insisted on watching him hang." Ben stretched and thanked Jennifer for understanding his need to dwell on Rosanna. "But I promise you I wouldn't have asked you to marry me if I wasn't ready."

"I know, but one mustn't hide someone like her away. Like you said she was once, twice, three times lady." Jennifer then convinced her husband it was time to go to bed. And in the corner -near the steps- a dark headed woman could be seen smiling -and at peace- before turning and disappearing from sight.


End file.
